1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to information display. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a system, apparatus and method of displaying information for foveal vision and peripheral vision.
2. Description of Related Art
In live group meetings, background information may be placed on walls of a conference room to allow participants to scan the information as needed. After a participant has scanned a piece of background information, however, the participant's focus is ordinarily returned to information relating to a topic in discussion. When a participant's focus is directed to a particular piece of information, that piece of information may be said to be in the participant's foveal vision. All other pieces of information may then be said to be in the participant's peripheral vision.
Foveal vision is high resolution or acuity vision whereas peripheral vision is wide field of vision. Unlike foveal vision, peripheral vision is not of high resolution but nonetheless provides situation awareness and/or information detection. Put in another way, foveal vision may be likened to a magnifier whereas peripheral vision to data compression. It (peripheral vision) allows a biological computer (e.g., a human being), which includes a foveal system and a peripheral system, to determine where to find relevant information. From this, the biological computer calculates in milliseconds all necessary muscle commands for bringing the foveal system into position. This may happen three to four times per second, each time, the compressed data of the peripheral system is automatically recalculated to compensate for eye movements. Thus, using peripheral vision a participant may quickly determine which of the different pieces of information that are placed on the wall of the conference room to focus on when needed.
In e-meetings, information is displayed on a computer display screen. Participants, therefore, are constrained to only one piece of information at a time. Consequently, to consult a piece of background information that is not being presently displayed, a search may have to be undertaken on the computer system to find and bring forth the information. This may consume time detracting the participant from the topic in discussion.
Hence, what is needed is a system, apparatus and method of displaying information in an e-meeting for foveal vision and peripheral vision.